Two people and horse rescued from floodwaters

March 2, 2011

By

Eric Mann

HIGH AT BOTH ENDS ... Traveling was difficult at both ends of Adams County on Tuesday due to high water. County Road 700 S was under water just south of Linn Grove, with a bridge in the distance almost completely submerged. (Photo by J Swygart)

Two people were rescued from floodwaters in the past two hours: one in Adams County today and one in Jay County yesterday.
Some eight members of the Geneva Fire Department helped an unidentified local man and his horse escape from floodwater in the small northern Jay County community of New Corydon late Tuesday afternoon.
Geneva Fire Chief John Patch said this morning that the department, which handles fires and other emergency runs in that part of Jay County, was called around 3:30 p.m. and found a man in a horse-drawn buggy in swift Wabash River floodwater perhaps three and a half to four feet deep on the north side of New Corydon.
Using a boat, the Geneva firefighters traveled an estimated 300 feet from dry land to reach the man and, after bringing him to safety, a brother of the rescued man went out in the boat to unhitch the horse and bring it back, too.
Patch reported that the horse was calm throughout the incident.
The Decatur Fire Department, which also has boats, was dispatched to assist the Geneva group, but the successful rescue caused the Decatur crew's run to be cancelled enroute to the scene.
Chief Patch said the Geneva firefighters were back at its station by around 4:45 p.m.
The other rescue occurred around 1:30 a.m. today on County Rd. 300 West by the Berne Fire Department, according to a report from the sheriff's department.
Deputy Sheriff Diosdado "Dio" Hernandez said he went to the scene and he and the Berne firefighters "could hear a man calling out for help, but could not see him. The fire department sent three men in a boat and began the search."
Shortly after that, the man, Robert Mata, was rescued and was treated at the scene by Adams County Emergency Medical Service personnel, then taken to Adams Memorial Hospital.
Mata had been found by the Berne firefighters while he was standing on top of his vehicle. No one else was involved.
Hernandez reported that he talked with Mata at the hospital and was told that he entered the water suddenly and water began filling his vehicle, so he broke a window to get out.
Mata said he began to yell for help and was heard by someone nearby who called the 911 emergency number.